Their mothers had been slain by hunters, who
lead a group, but circumstances had thrust that
role upon them. Makoua watched over three
females, Bougou, Lengui, and Loubomo. Kabo
oversaw Bangha, a young male, and Mayoko, a
pregnant subadult female. Her pregnancy was
PPG's first-and a sign that the orphans were
adapting to their social environment, artificial
though it was.
The forest floor we trod was more swamp
than terra firma. Downed trees and branches
lay scattered like pickup sticks across our path.
The gorillas scuttled over these obstacles on all
fours, but we humans had to pick our way
gingerly through boot-sucking mud and the
jumble of slick, wet deadfall. At one point I
paused to retie my boots, and when I rejoined
the procession, Bangha charged from behind
and slapped me hard on the back. Pearson told
me that he might have been trying to deter
mine whether I was a threat, or maybe he was
just acting up for a new audience.
Whatever the case, Yala-Epongo and Ndo
kila had little patience for his behavior. Later,
as we watched the youngest apes swinging
from stout vines over a pond, Bangha sneaked
around behind us for another attack. Yala
Epongo caught him in the act and glared
at him. He flinched and retreated, but only
momentarily, so she escalated her threat. She
raised her walking stick above her head, and
her eyes, wide with disapproval, said, Watch
your step, buster! After that Bangha backed off.
By midafternoon Bangha appeared to have
accepted me. While the others reclined on the
massive trunk of a fallen tree, he came over to
lie at my feet and nibble some greenery. So did
Bougou, a female of about five. The edge of
uncertainty I'd been feeling dissipated.
One morning McConnery and I set out for a
walk with the babies toddling ahead of us,
spinning pirouettes and beating their chests in
mock display. We paused from time to time as
Clinging to a surrogateparent, six-month-old Kongo arrivedat Mpassa scarred by machete
wounds and infested with mites. He bit caretakersand shiedfrom other gorillas.But, like most of the
orphanssince the project left Brazzaville-where two-thirdssuccumbed to diseases andparasites
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, FEBRUARY 2000